Two banks in Australia – ANZ and Westpac – are preparing to launch Android Pay in the next couple of months. Google’s contactless payment system has seen a slower international release compared to competitors. According to a spokesperson for ANZ, Android Pay will be turned on mid this calendar year. ANZ and Westpac, including subsidiaries St George, Bank of Melbourne and Bank of South Australia, join Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, ING Direct, Macquarie Bank and Cuscal in supporting Google’s version on contactless payments. ANZ was the first bank to add support for Apple Pay and is working on a Square Reader-like device for mobile point-of-sales. Meanwhile, Samsung Pay is set to launch in Australia by the end of the year and is currently available in the United States, China, and South Korea. Despite the head start from competitors, MasterCard believes that Android Pay will be as important to the future payments infrastructure due to the vast number of Android devices in the market
